If you are going to take a pillion , check the load ratings of the bike.

For comfort, A smaller 250 mini adventure or a street scrambler type bike (edit. Maybe a 250 maxi scoot) might suit you better than a naked sports like MT25 or z250.

The caveat is, whatever is comfortable, and has higher load rating, may quite easily run into tradeoff in terms of city maneuverability...

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Mar 26 2023, 08:55 PM

Anyway, 250cc is a bit limited.

Comfort is a basket case of attributes like sitting position, frame size (ie. means longer more spacious seat), wheelbase, vibration etc. As you can see some of which means it may result in a bigger and heavier bike, which may impact on maneuverability.

For bikes, as was mentioned, the KTM 250 Adventure. However, this bike has a relatively tall seat height. but if you have the legs for it, its a good candidate. The Versys 250 is a bit easy to manage...and probably the best of the bunch owning to the same 250 twin out of the ninja and z250. Other bikes in the class is the TRK 251. You may see the Vstrom 250 sometime in the future.

for 250 street scrambler type bikes, you are basically limited to a host of chinese bikes, which may or may not be your cup of tea.

What you can do is try out the new CFMOTO 250 CL-X, Leoncino 250 and the TNT250 sports naked. They tend to have a better or more generously proportioned pillion seat compared to a MT25.


Modenas may launch a 250 Pulsar or Dominar sometime in the future as well.


Best for comfort will be a 250 maxi scoot. But bear in mind, they can be bulky, heavy and long. But for comfort, they are unmatched.


But if you are on any of these, dont expect to cilok like a kapchai.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Mar 27 2023, 10:01 AM

yes, the ES250. I had a test ride during the last open test day. Very compact, lightweight and nimble. But not my cup of tea. Ride quality of small wheels and a CVT not my thing. But it does get up to 100kmh quite eagerly and stops quite well (i think it has linked brakes). Whether you trust MForce build quality or not is another thing.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Mar 27 2023, 10:02 AM

And so is Benelli.

If you are not looking at Chinese bikes and scooters ...you have definitely pigeon holed yourself.

You can't buy a new versys 250. Because there are none....until modenas decides to bring them in again.

So that leaves the KTM. But if you are worried about parts and reliability, you are pretty much left with no candidates. Small displacement KTM are coming out if India, while the bigger 790 is coming out if china.

There are no problems with parts for modenas/Bajaj bikes. Basically they are the poor man's KTM. (Yes you read that right. Bajaj makes KTMs). But judging from your preferences, the Bajaj based bikes probably aren't for you either.


If based on your initial preferences of a city bike with comfy seat, only a scoot fits the bill. Even a small adventure bike is big if your previous experience is a 100kg kapchai, any of the 250 ADVs and maxi 250s will be close to double that.

The closest 250 scoot that fits your bill would be the ES250 scoot..but that being a Chinese bikes and a scooter...no dice.





This post has been edited by jaycee1: Mar 28 2023, 09:12 AM

Well, Benelli bikes are made by the same group that makes CFMOTO and QJ bikes. For all intents and purposes, they are Chinese bikes regardless of it's "Italian" heritage. I would find it amusing you put extra cachet on "Italian design"...especially if reliability is one of your bugbears. KTM bikes isn't well known for reliability as well with quite a number of electronic niggles.

No bike is perfect.

But a new or used z250 or versys 250 could be a good option. They are known to be reliable and used z250 are very affordable. The versys you might find them going for around 16k.

For seat padding, you can go to bike seat refurbishers and they can do it up for you. From 100 to 200.

FWIW, if buying new, get a bike with ABS.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Mar 28 2023, 12:32 PM